2017 Climate Action Plan Report Card

About The Report

The San Diego Region Climate Action Plan Report Card offers an assessment of the region’s climate planning and climate action to help the public and local governments discern patterns and trends across a vast and scattered set of information.

Through this report, we hope to spur cities to take action to protect our region’s future with legally binding Climate Action Plans that include ambitious emissions reductions targets and best practices gleaned from models in the region. We hope also to arm residents throughout the region with a tool that increases transparency and enables them to hold their local government accountable for doing their part to reduce the pollution that causes climate change.

The San Diego region leads the nation in 100% clean energy commitments, with six cities moving toward 100% clean energy with Community Choice. While our cities are moving in the right direction on clean energy, they are moving in the wrong direction on transportation alternatives. Transportation-related emissions continue to increase, which means cities are not doing enough to create bikeable, walkable, and transit-friendly neighborhoods. Finally, across the board our region needs stronger action to ensure that the communities that are most polluted and have been left behind economically -- where there aren’t solar panels on rooftops, tree-lined streets, bike lanes, and safe sidewalks -- are the first in line to benefit from the implementation of climate strategies.

See the breakdown of our findings, city by city, below:

How do we know the Report Card works? Check it out:

"The CAC Report Card had a direct impact in improving our Climate Action Plan from a silver to a gold-standard CAP. Our Mayor and Council unanimously implemented their recommendations to improve the CAP and our score went up. We are now proud to be only one of two gold-standard CAPs in San Diego County." -Tasha Boerner Horvath, Encinitas City Councilmember

“Our grassroots climate advocacy group in Vista used the Report Card as a tool to help our city become a gold-standard CAP.” -Lisa Wellens, V-CAP (Vista Climate Action Planners)